Yeay! My guest post on reviewing the classics is up on the Book Bloggers Appreciation Week site!
I wrote it in response to Amy’s query on Twitter for what parts of book blogging are underrepresented. I said without hesitation, “Classics,” and I’ve been pondering that thought ever since. (This post is, therefore, rather long.)
The more I think of it, the more I believe classics are underrepresented on the web. My thoughts are these: For every classic reviewed on blogs, there are (at least) 10 ARCs reviewed. After all, those ARCs were free books, and the blogger has a schedule to meet in reviewing it.
I have strong feelings for how important classics are in our continued reading. True, some people just don’t like them, and I wouldn’t want to force the classics on someone. However, there is a reason they are still on our radar after 200 years: they’re usually pretty good, both in terms of how they are written and in how we can all relate to the stories. I don’t think people know what they are missing, now that they aren’t in school being encouraged to give something more challenging a try. Classics can be very rewarding.
ARCs and Blog Tours
Last week, I wrote about the history of my blog and what I’m hoping for. I mentioned ARCs and why I don’t read them. I said,
For me, reading is about the book’s impact on me. I don’t accept any ARCs because I am not interested in meeting someone else’s schedule or reading plan. Besides, Jane Austen and Mark Twain and company aren’t writing much these days.
I realize now that’s not true. It’s not “not wanting to meet a schedule.” Rather, I don’t accept ARCs because I don’t want to read the books that are offered on a schedule. That’s not the say the books are “bad,” and I don’t think blog tours are wrong. A blog tour is a great marketing chance for the lesser-known authors. Besides, those who read ARCs typically have great things to say about the books. They often love the ARC books they read. I personally am not interested. But blog tours get the books into the hands of those who want to read them, and get the word out to other, similarly minded people.
I personally don’t read a lot of modern fiction, and then I only read it when I really want to. All fiction ARCs (correct me if I’m wrong) are modern. If Victorian literature were being offered via the ARC method, I’d probably jump on the band wagon and read to meet a schedule.
So then the following comments came to my post:
Chris@bookarama: A blog tour for Jane Austen would be fun but yeah, not much new there. Plus I don’t think she needs any help.
Me: Chris, that’s such a great idea! We should start a “dead people’s blog tour” where we take a book (say Jane Austen’s S&S or something) and each do an author interview and review the book on a schedule…..sigh. Sounds complicated, and I couldn’t send you a free book. If only…
Eva: I LOVE the idea of blog tours for classic books Chris and Rebecca! If you ever start something like that, I’m completely in on it.
I don’t know how serious I was when I mentioned this idea, but the encouragement from Chris and Eva got me thinking. I’ve wished for something like this for a long time. But I don’t have a budget for buying myself books, let alone buying other people books. Besides, buying someone a book promotes a publisher, and a dead author blog tour would be about the words a dead person wrote, not about marketing a particular publisher’s publication of a book.
But the classics are easily accessible. Project Gutenberg has the etext for thousands of classics. And if someone doesn’t want to read an etext, local libraries normally contain at least one copy of a classic work.
Why NOT start a dead author blog tour?
It’s true that Jane Austen and the others probably don’t need our publicity. There are plenty of people out there reading the classics. But are they blogging about them?
Sometimes I wish that I saw “Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen” or “A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens” or something else (probably that I haven’t heard of) a bit more frequently on the Google Reader subject line in addition to these other, also wonderful, modern literature books.
Jane Austen does not have any new books this year, that’s true. But how many of us have read the classics and would love to share that love on our blog? How many of us really didn’t like a particular classic and want to explain why it should be taken out of the school classroom? Please note that I’m not saying a dead author blog tour needs to be full of only positive reviews. I, obviously, have a love for the classics, but my point is to get the titles out there. We could critique the classics just as we critique modern fiction.
The more I thought about a concept like this, the more I wished there was a way to promote the classics just as modern authors promote their books. These dead authors didn’t and can’t pay an internet promotion company to promote their books today. But I personally would love to be their advocate. And anyone who loves a classic by a dead author could nominate it for inclusion in a blog tour. You could be their advocate too!
The purpose of a dead author blog tour would be a little different than that of a “regular” blog tour. A dead author tour would highlight a classic text for other, similarly minded people. It would not be to help sell a book or promote a publisher. It would not provide the blogger with a free book for their shelf. The only reward a participant would have is an experience with classic literature, and a chance to be a part of a group of other classics readers.
How would it work?
There are lots of logistical problems with this concept. First of all, I’ve never been a part of a blog tour, so I have no idea how the “real” ones work. Second, would readers be motivated to post on a certain day without a free book to remind them?
One potentially good thing about a dead author blog tour (or a “classics blog tour,” whatever we want to call it) is that people may have already read the books. I think it would be fun to have such a “tour” open to all kinds of posts, including some of these things:
- For those reading it for the first time, general reviews of a book
- For those who have read it before, reflections on a first reading of a book
- Also for those who have read it before, comparisons of the book to the movie of a classic book
- Fake “author interviews” or “character interviews” where a blogger recreates what they think the author or character would say to questions
- Debates about the reasons a certain book is a school text or not
- Comparisons of a classic book to other favorites, new and old
- Anything else that celebrates a classic or otherwise advertises it for bloggers today
What I would love would be for a few people to take responsibility for a book. We’d “assign” a different day (or maybe a certain week) for each of those bloggers to post their thoughts about the particular book, whether that would be thoughts about their first read or other things about the book, as mentioned above. At the bottom of each post, we’d see a list of where the book is going in future “tour” days.
My dream is that this would allow bloggers to follow a chain of discussion through the blogosphere. Also, classic books will show up on Google Reader radar over a certain period of time, and classic authors will be celebrated more frequently on blogs along with the new books. Bloggers could be a part of an on-going discussion group about classic books.
Note: I’m currently (in this post) considering this as an idea for “dead authors” simply because there is no clear way to define “classics.” Anything written can be considered “classic!” “Dead” just seems to put a more reasonable limit on the idea. Besides, if an author is alive, they technically could pay for their own publicity. I’m talking about the dead people who may need a little help from beyond the grave to get on the web more frequently.
But I’m open to suggestions, and I could be persuaded in any direction. What do you think? How should “classics” be celebrated on the web? Would you ever participate? What books would you love to see promoted via such a tour?
And what would you call it? “Dead author blog tour” is a bit dense (a little morbid sounding).
P.S. Sorry for the double post today; I’m going to try to limit my posts as well as I can this week, but today I’d really like to get this out there.
Yay!!! I’d be willing to help out w/ the logistics and anything else you might need. 🙂 I think your ideas sound wonderful, and I’m sure we could find enough people who want to read a classic w/o needing to bribe them with a free book! I particpate in an occassional book tour, and usually we have 1-2 months ‘notice time’ if that makes sense.
I would love to do a classics tour. I just finished and loved Lady Audley’s Secret, and I have others that I need to get to on my list. No bribe necessary. Picking a month and having “tour dates” sounds good. I can help too, if you need it.
I think it’s an excellent idea and I’d love to participate! The Woman in White definitely left me in the mood for more classics, and I really want to read the one Nicole mentioned. I absolutely agree that classics can be very rewarding, AND fun to read! Sometimes I forget that and let myself be daunted by them, but more and more I realize that there’s no reason to.
And like Eva and Nicole said, no bribe necessary! Especially because most classics are even available for free online.
I can’t help much with logistics, but I would definitely be up for participating. I love classics!
I love the idea of promoting the classics and will support you in whatever you decide to do. I’m not a fan of blog tours as I don’t like seeing reviews for the same book several times in a row, but I do love group reads where everyone reads the same book at the same time and then discuss it together. Perhaps there would be a way to combine the two?
The great thing about classics is that they are readily available, cheaply or free from the library, so I don’t think getting hold of them is a problem.
Just name the book and the date and I’ll be there!
Good luck!
Jackie’s point is a good one – maybe to avoid getting people tired of hearing about the same classic again and again, we could do themed tours? 18th Century Gothic, Sensation Fiction, Modernism, you name it. Discussions are a great idea too, though!
Yeay Eva! Thanks for the encouragement to begin with.
Nicole and Amanda, thanks, I’m sure I’ll be in touch.
Nymeth, I’m glad you think no bribe is necessary.
Jackie, I do think it sometimes gets a bit much to see the same book over the course of a month. I guess I’m up to input from others about that.
That said (and I’m up to input), I personally would be happy to see a classic bombarding my reader over the course of a few weeks. I think I get annoyed by the others because, as I say, I’m just not interested in them. I kind of like the “this is my day” responsibility a tour would give to a tour participant over a readalong participant — readalongs don’t have the same sense of “I signed up for this.” But I also am thinking of putting classics along side the other blog tours, which tend toward 15-20 people participating. Call me pessimistic, but I was hoping for 5 people per classic (although I’d love many more!!). I guess I wouldn’t call that overloading a reader.
How many people would you all expect?
Nymeth, thanks for jumping in, I was writing my comment as you were. That’s another good idea. Would “author” tours be too much of the same?
A huge fan of classic lit, I adore this concept and I would definitely be willing to help with logistics, marketing, reviewing and writing. I agree that having a bunch of people review a book is a bit unnecessary but I do like the idea of a group of people reading the same book. Maybe you could have participants fulfill different tasks: two or three pair up where one is pretending to be the author for an interview (needs research but is definitely possible), a few people do a review, two complete biographies of the author, two do a historical context of the book post, etc.
As for names, I kind of like Dead Author Book Tour, but you could also do something like Posthumous Public Relations or…well…okay my brain just fried.
I like the idea of an author tour. For example how about 15 stops, covering 5 different books? So each individual book would only be reviewed 3 times? If the author had less books you could have fewer stops or more repitition?
As usual, we are on the same page (so to speak) when it comes to our reading habits and tastes. I prefer to let a book get some age on it before I read it — at least a decade or so even for “popular” books, and much longer for others. I’m reading Treasure Island right now — and only because I realized that the Canterbury Tales I got in audio was abridged.
I am up for helping with anything that would get bloggers reading “classics” or just older books. Count me in.
I’m just a little voice here among giants, but I would love to do this. It would be fun, particularly, to do a tour where you have a diversity of books – for instance, you could do Revolutionary France, and have someone read The Red and The Black, LEs Miserables, Tale of Two Cities, Scarlet Pimpernel, etc… Then you’d hear about people were huge Republicans, people who hated the revolution, people who were ambivalent, etc, etc, etc… Another good one on that topic would be the Industrial REvolution: I’m reading Karl Marx right now, it’d be fun to have someone read John Stuart Mill, then Gaskell’s North and South, Dickens’ Hard Times, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, etc, etc…
Trisha, thanks for the insights and ideas for what types of posts. And I”ll probably get back to you about helping!
Jackie, I like author tour idea too, until I saw Jason’s comment and finally understood Nymeth’s re: topical tours.
Rose City Reader, I was just about to read Treasure Island (as soon as I finish a couple other books first…) I’ll keep you posted.
Jason Gignac, ah! Now i understand what Nymeth was meaning when she said tours about various topics. I think we’d all have to create the lists. I’m not sure which way to go.
I’ll definitely have more about this, post-BBAW. Thanks so much for your eagerness to join in! This should be fun.
Oh, I hope I didn’t hijack Nymeth’s idea…
Jason, lol, I think I’m just a little dense. But the illustration of books helped me to picture just how awesome a classics tour by subject would be.
I think your idea for a dead author book tour is innovative and exciting! I will admit that I slack off a bit when it comes to classics. I love them in general, but I seem to stay away from them now that I have a book blog. I think part of me is scared that people don’t want to read reviews on such well known books, so I was nervous the reception wouldn’t be as great. But I think you made a good point when you said that the fact that more people have read or are aware of classics leads to more in depth discussions.
I love the idea of a subject tour too! This is such a good idea! Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
Well, not ALL ARCs/review books are modern, sometimes there are re-releases, but you’re about 99.99% correct.
I’m with Jackie in terms of the inundation and saturation that happens with most blog tours. I think one of the things I like about the book blogging world is the diversity in reading it promotes, and I personally feel burnt out when I see the same book getting reviewed over and over again. I personally like the appeal of a read-along in that case more than independent reviews, because it feels more interactive and collaborative. I’m not saying that this would happen on the review-front, but I would dread having to read 5 different summaries of Sense & Sensibility – if we could somehow make it so that the posts didn’t focus as much on plot synopses, then so much the better (this is why read-alongs appeal because there is an assumption going in that others have read the book).
It could be nice if we got a pool of all interested people, and each one picked a classic book they wanted to review (perhaps from a list of books). Then the next month you could have people swapping and choosing another book from the list (or based on someone else’s review), so that there’s still the ability for overlap to occur but not overexposure. I’m fine with reading about the same book each week, but I REALLY don’t like it when 5-days in a row I’m reading about the latest ARC.
Either way, I want to start focusing more on the classics again, so clearly I’d be up for participating in some way!
I’d love to participate. I’m not sure how author tours even work on blogs, but I’m game to promote Jane Austen or George Eliot……the Brontes…..there are so many areas of classics, and I think they deserve some promotion! No free book necessary for me! Just the love of classics.
I love this idea. I read a lot of modern fiction but I love the classics and would love to help promote them via a blog tour or some kind of orchestrated blogging event. Great! 🙂
GREAT idea!!! My 2 cents? I’d like to see posts from bloggers on why they loved/hated a particular book or why they think it should/should not be more widely read. Like another commentor said, less focus on plot summary and more focus on discussion. I’m not adverse to a read-a-long (personally I like read-a-longs), but it would have to be one with deadline to deal with the ownership problem you mentioned in your reply to one of the commentors.
I’ll watch for more details over the next few weeks. This sounds like it has lots of support already so I’m sure it will take off.
I love it! I am (though more like used to be) a huge fan of classics – devouring the reading lists right and left. I haven’t read as many recently. Every once in a while, I go back to a favorite and reread, but not often. I’d be interested in participating!
Yessss! I’m in! Whatever way you decide to do it. I’ve read a few already so I’d like to have some choice- I might have reviewed a few already on my blog. I don’t think the ‘free book’ part is a big deal since most can be found either free online (Project Gutenberg) or at the library.
Oh and I just had a thought! If people are worried about that ARC blog tour burnout. We don’t have to have everyone summarize. I like that idea someone said about thoughts on first time reading the book, likes/dislikes, etc. It might shake things up a bit.
Rebecca, I think this is a great seed of an idea you are planting. I think the suggestions of using themes might be more interesting than reading 5 reviews of the same book within a relatively short period of time; but even if it is the same book, I think that classics would probably bring in more varying opinions than the latest not-as-deep read.
Looking forward to when this is all firmed up; I just know I probably will want to participate :-)!
Love your idea, Rebecca! Not sure if I’m able to commit at the moment, as there are a number of read-alongs I’m participating in, till Feb, but I’ll wait to see about your schedules and other things.
In any case, I love reading classics and now that the thrill of getting free books has died down for me, I’ve stopped receiving ARCs (even if I only accepted few before) completely.. unless it’s something I’m dying to read! Now I’m ready to focus completely, again, on my usual reads: classics and prize-winners.
I like the idea of an author tour.
P.S. Even if in case I’m not able to participate, I’d still be very excited that you’re doing this. I’m inclined to read reviews of classics over contemporary lit, too, so it’ll be quite a treat having all of you posting about classics! 😀
I’m normally a lurker around here, but I’m coming out of the woodwork to say I LOVE this idea! I’d be thrilled to participate. I really like the idea of a theme, too, with a list that we could all choose from. I love classics and am just waiting for an excuse to dust off some of my older copies and read them again.
I’d love to do this — count me in!
That sounds good. I like the idea of having an author tour. That way all the books of one author can be showcased. I also liked the other idea of giving blogging assignments to readers of the same book. It gives a little variety.
I wouldn’t mind participating. I have been enjoying more classics this year. I actually just finished Treasure Island. Isn’t that funny? Before you start reading it, brush up on your nautical terms. I got a bit lost at times. LOL
Yes yes yes!! I mean, YES!!!!! Count me in. I periodically go looking for blogs that focus on the classics and usually come up empty. They’re just not out there, though as this comment thread shows, there is considerable interest in classic books lurking beneath the surface.
I’m not too sure what a blog tour is—is that like the old-timey (i.e. from 5 years ago) web rings? If you go with multiple titles it would be nice if they were books that have some link between them, that talk to each other. The nice thing about “dead” authors is that they were well-read and drew inspiration from older works. An ambitious reviewing team could write a conversation between two books.
I happen to like the word “classic.” Everyone knows what it means, whatever relativistic qualms they may have about it. We’re not talking about any old book by any old bit of worm food, right? We’re talking about the good stuff.
OK, I’ll shut up now. I look forward to more on this. 🙂
One more thought: As an homage to the current vampire craze, what about Undead Authors Tour? They live on! 😉
Sylvia- Undead Authors! I love that.
I think this is an absolutely FABULOUS idea! I like the title “Undead Authors Blog Tour” even though it does sound like zombies are writing books. But hey, zombies are all the rage now. We could take apart the AP English reading lists and debate whether the novels on it should be.
Oh yes sign me up! Ive been trying to read more classics and I’m proud to say I’ve read a few this year, compared to none last year, and will take any encouragement to read more.
Any help you need setting up etc just email or Twitter me. I’d love to help. This sounds like a fabulous idea.
I would be interested in participating, if it’s an author or theme I’m interested in. I think the classics are underrepresented on blogs as well.
I have lists and links to project gutenberg of books from the 1800’s and early 1900’s that might help at:
http://1morechapter.com/decades
I would so want to be involved with this! I’d definitely love to participate and would commit to doing so most of the time–except in the case of Jude the Obscure 🙂 If you need behind-the-scenes help, I’d be willing to be involved there as well. But you may have plenty of volunteers already.
Classics are my guilty pleasure. And I’ve found them to be a great joy. I just love reading and blogging classics.
I was actually thinking–though not tweeting or blogging–that it would be fun to have a classics tournament similar to Nerds Heart YA. But this blog tour idea is even better 🙂
Wow, I am so excited to see the excitement about this idea! I’m going to have to compress all these ideas in to another post. Thanks so much to all those eager to help. I will definitely get in touch with you!
Count me in! I adore classics and until I started my blog, they were pretty much all I ever read. I would love the opportunity to reach out and get people reading some fabulous literature and help them understand that big books are not scary books and that character development takes time if done properly.
I like this idea. count me in!
In the mean time, you should check out Five Boroughs’ Back to School challenge. It’s full of classics! http://fiveboroughbooks.blogspot.com/2009/09/back-to-school-reading-challenge.html
I love to read classics, so I’ll be interested to see where this goes. I may or may not be able to participate, depending on timing and the particular authors/books involved.
And I’ll just chime in with other to say I’d prefer an author or theme tour, rather than a specific book, especially since so many people are on board. As much as I love Tess of the D’Urbervilles, I’d get sick of reading about it if everyone who responded here reviewed it, but a Thomas Hardy tour? I’d be all over that! (Just as a for instance.) Have you seen Simon’s Sensation Season posts over at Savidge Reads? That could be another way to go.
I’d be less inclined to do a readalong, just because I prefer to commit to one book, and the one readalong I’ve done (Infinite Jest) has required me to be more scattered in my reading than I’d like. But I’d enjoy reading what others have to say in a readalong, even if I don’t officially join in.
I want to play – an author or theme tour sounds like so much fun! I don’t read as many classics as I’d like to but I’d love for that to change. What about some of those slightly goofy 17th and 18th century writers – Lawrence Sterne and Jonathan Swift and Cervantes and that lot? They make me smile and I’d love to see them get some lovin’. 🙂
Hey! I would LOVE to take part in this! I think the “Out of Copyright” angle is a good one to explore as the price of books does not prevent anyone from participating on the basis of limited funds.
Like others have stated, I am not so keen on the idea of reading multiple reviews but I think that various things can be done with the same author, or even with the same work, depending on one’s interests!
As soon as I get my blog up an running again…
I’m not convinced that classics are so underrepresented.
Some of y’all ought to put Wuthering Expectations in your Google Reader. I’m just sayin’.
I love the idea and I like ‘Dead Author Book Tour’ title hah. I definitely would love to join if this takes off. I’m guessing there wouldn’t be that many people joining for each book (maybe 5-10) so I wouldn’t worry about the ‘bombarding’. I like it more if we can concentrate on one book at a time rather than a theme, because theme is too broad and it’d be like book carnival – which we already have. And I think the people joining the book tour should read it – can be either re-read or first time read, because it’s not so interesting to read opinions of people that have read it so long time ago (Oh I read this in high school and as far as I remember… etc). I’m sure a lot of people haven’t read a lot of the classics (myself included), so it would be fun! A readalong is something I’m definitely interested in too.
ps: I’m not sure about the fake author interview. I don’t think it’s necessary nor interesting.
pps: I did nominate you for ‘Classic’ category for BBAW (it’s the one where they asked if there’s any category that they missed)
I’m kinda in a rush now so pardon me if I didn’t write my thoughts very well, but hope you got most of it.
Love, love, LOVE, this idea. Yes, I want to participate! Please. 🙂
I can’t keep up with the comments, but that makes me very excited!! Thanks for all your insights.
Jen – Devourer of Books, thanks for the heads up re: ARCs and classics. I *thought* I’d seen a reissue of Bridehead’s Revisited at LT ER.
Not crazy about the zombies name, but that’s because I’m trying to ignore the zombie craze — not really for me. But I’m still open for insight on a name. I’m pretty boring and tend to like “Classics Blog Tour.”
Amateur Reader, thanks for the heads up. You’re right: we just don’t know where to find the bloggers that review classics. It seems a lot of them (I checked out your blog roll) are kind of hanging out in their own little party. I’m not sure how I missed you guys! Thanks for commenting so I could find you!
Thanks for all your thoughts. I’m pondering them and will get up another post about this in the coming week(s). Probably post BBAW, but I don’t want to lose this awesome interest level!
Rebecca, one of the most interesting things to me about BBAW is how it makes the social networks more visible.
But I realize that I’ve been visiting your blog off and on for a year or so without commenting, which is not much help in bringing the networks together, is it?
What a great idea Rebecca! And clearly others think so too. Even though my reading time is contrained when school is in session I’d love to participate in any way I can too whether that be by doing some research on biography or historical context or putting together a “further reading” list.
I think this is a great idea, especially from the “themes” angle. I think it would be fun to have something similar to Bookworm Carnival, but happening in real time with more conversation back-and-forth. It might be especially fun if, for each theme, there was kind of a ringleader who gave a short synopsis of relevant political or social developments likely to pertain to all books on the list. Then everyone would have some baseline understanding from which to operate – I think that sometimes, people are intimidated by “classics” because the worlds portrayed are so different from ours, and there’s no built-in explanation (unlike in, say, a fantasy novel).
AND, I also agree with Amateur Reader that there certainly are people out there reviewing classics – I just wrote about Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie, and a bunch of us are having a Kristin Lavransdatter readalong from October to December (followed by a Woolf readalong in January and February). So, I think it’s both things. There probably are MORE bloggers writing about contemporary fiction, but most folks I read write on an eclectic mix of contemporary and classic fiction, along with nonfiction. That said, I’m all for any project that focuses on the classics, since most of my favorite books fall into that category! 🙂
Jason, ideas exist to be shared, so there was definitely no hijacking! You explained it much better than I had anyway! I also love what Emily said.
I’m so glad there’s this much interest, Rebecca 😀
I’d be interested in taking part! I read a mix of classics and more contemporary fiction and love them both.
Really? I’ve loads that I’ve not lreviewed going back the last couple of years. As far as I see it, if I take a book on to read it’s no guarantee that I’m going to write a blog post about it. Promotional copies are created for a reason and, unless you contract yourself to providing a review, there’s no obligation. (Unless there’s a fear of the well of freebies drying up.)
stewart, I’m glad to hear not all ARCs are given as a part of a blog tour. I just meant to observe what I seem to see, looking in from the outside. I’ve never accepted an ARC before.
Sorry to be a little late to the discussion but I just wanted to let you know you can count on me too. I like the title of Dead Author’s Book Tour. It reminds me of the Dead Poet’s Society. I love to read the old stuff. Since I started blogging I’ve gotten caught up in all the freebies and I am at the point of stepping back to get some balance in my reading. Count me in.
Just want to chuck my penny thought in and say I love, love this idea. I want to see it happen! There are so many unloved classics as well, or books by classic authors that didn’t make the break through of their other books – it would be cool to see them get a bit of attention.
Unlike the other commenters, I wouldn’t exactly call myself a fan of the classics but I would be up to reading more of them. On my blog, I fall somewhere in between ARCs and dead authors :-). One of the reasons I started writing my blog was to bring attention to good books that aren’t as revered as “Pride and Prejudice” and don’t get the buzz of a “Twilight”.
I think it’s a great idea. If you don’t want to promote authors like Dickens and Austen who already have plenty of publicity, you could also focus on lesser-known classics. Who knows? It might start a mini-trend. Keep me posted, I’m definitely in.
I think this is a wonderful idea. There are so many “classics” that I have always meant to read but just haven’t made the time to do it. I think this is a worthy cause and if there is anything I can do to help, please let me know. I would love to participate, host…oh heck, just let me know!!!
I enjoyed reading your post and was a bit surprised to learn how few classics are being posted by bloggers (I’m new to the whole scene). Most of the books in my TBR pile are classics so I’d be really interested in your Dead Authors Tour! I agree with the above comments – it would be great to focus on lesser known authors. Or to perhaps read some by various themes. I’m reading Dracula right now but you could easily read other scary/horror/gothic type novels in the same vein!
I’m late to comment but just wanted to say that I, too, think it’s a fabulous idea and would absolutely love to participate in a Dead Author’s Blog Tour. I never seem to get around to reading as many classics as I’d like to so a tour or read along would be a great incentive, so please count me in.
I would love to be part of this. Reading the classics is very important to me.
This sounds like a wonderful idea, please count me in. Always happy to read, reread, and natter about the classics with other book lovers.
I, too, would love to participate in something like this. I’m already posting on Mondays about classics I read and wrote about in my reading notebook back in college, but this sounds like a fun, collaborative project.
YOU ARE JUST THE PERSON I NEEDED TO COME ACROSS! I am reading the top 100 Random House Books this year. It is almost impossible to find anyone reading any of these classics (or as you said “dead author’s books) although mabe they’re not all dead. I finally found 1 person that read Ulysses (a nightmare) but still, I’d love to see some reviews on Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Woolfe, Forester, Lawrence, etc. HELP!
I’d love to participate too.